Displaying items by tag: Eagle Materials

US: Eagle Materials Inc. has issued a press release announcing that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Lafarge North America to purchase Lafarge's Sugar Creek plant in Missouri and Tulsa plant in Oklahoma, which have a combined cement capacity of 1.6Mt/yr. The deal also includes six distribution terminals, two aggregates quarries, eight ready-mix concrete plants and a fly ash business.

Eagle will also enter into a transition sales agreement to supply certain Lafarge operations with cement for four to five years and an agreement with a Lafarge affiliate to supply low-cost alternative fuels to the acquired operations.

The purchase price for the group of assets is US$446m, subject to customary post-closing adjustments. The acquisition will increase Eagle's cement capacity by 60% and it is expected to close in November or December 2012, pending regulatory approvals.

Steven Rowley, Eagle Materials' President and Chief Executive Officer, said that the agreement represents a major milestone event for the company. "Our stated strategy has been to grow the cement and aggregates side of our business. Our first priority has been to acquire cement plants that connect but do not overlap with the market reach of our existing plants."

"These two high-quality Lafarge cement plants are a compelling fit with our objectives and the transaction meets our stringent criteria for new investment," continued Rowley. "These assets will allow us to participate more fully in the US construction industry recovery. Additionally this transaction further positions the company near energy growth markets, where there is growing demand for our specialty oil well cement, along with our newly-offered high-quality northern white frac sand. These new cement, concrete and aggregates assets will immediately contribute earnings and cash flow for our stockholders. Moreover they will provide significant near-term opportunities for synergies and earnings growth."

US: Eagle Materials Inc has reported a 29% rise in total revenue for the first quarter of the 2013 fiscal year which ended on 30 June 2012. The North American building materials producer noted revenue of US$154m for the quarter, up from US$120m in the same period in 2011.

Cement sector revenues for the first quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$76m, a 26% increase year-on-year from US$59m in 2011. Sales volumes rose by 26%, including wholly-owned and joint ventures, to 848,000t from 674,000t. The revenue improvement reflects a 26% increase in first quarter cement sales volume. Cement price increases were achieved in both the Texas and Mountain regions during the first quarter but were offset by the increased pace of high-volume, lower-priced bid work in the company's other markets.

Operating earnings from cement for the first quarter were US$9.9m, a 12% increase from US$8.8m year-on-year. The earnings impact from increased cement sales volumes was mostly offset by higher maintenance costs associated with scheduled maintenance at all of Eagle's cement facilities. The company calculated that first quarter operating earnings were negatively impacted by approximately US$8m due to this maintenance.

US: Eagle Materials Inc. has reported its financial results for the 2012 fiscal year and the fiscal fourth quarter that ended on 31 March 2012. Its results showed that the group's revenue was up by 7% for the fiscal year, to US$495m and cash flow from operations was US$60.2m, up by 37%. In the quarter ending 31 March 2012, the company netted revenues of US$116.8m, a 22% year-on-year increase.

Eagle said that its low cost operations continued to execute well during the 2012 fiscal year and that it was beginning to see improving construction activity across most of its markets. Eagle's earnings began to improve during the second half of fiscal 2012 and accelerated during the fourth quarter.

The company saw improved cement revenues, which were up by 8% for the full fiscal year to US$244m. Operating earnings from cement were up by 3% to US$46.9m. In the fourth quarter its cement operating earnings were US$7.5m, a massive 60% increase from the same quarter of the 2011 fiscal year.

Eagle said that the increase in its cement earning primarily reflected improved sales volumes and sales prices offset by US$2m of additional maintenance costs incurred in the quarter versus the prior year quarter. Cement revenues for the quarter, including joint venture and intersegment revenues, totalled US$49.8m, 23% greater than the same quarter of 2011. Cement sales volumes for the quarter were 0.53Mt, 20% higher than the same quarter of 2011.